Southwest: Phoenix’s Historic Coronado Neighborhood

Urban revitalization programs can affect local food. In Phoenix, the Historic Coronado Neighborhood’s efforts to preserve and rezone its historic buildings has led to a culinary revival: The neighborhood’s meticulously restored bungalow, Spanish Colonial Revival, and Southwestern homes now house some of the best eateries in the city.

Start at The Main Ingredient Ale House & Café, a gastropub located in what was once a brick bungalow. Grab a chair on the front porch and enjoy a leisurely pint, or linger over a beer and a vegan cashew butter and red pepper–cabernet jelly sourdough sandwich on the former home’s backyard-turned-restaurant patio.

On Seventh Street, you’ll find Coronado’s newcomers like Rice Paper Eatery(pictured), a Vietnamese restaurant also in a former home, where they make their own spring rolls in more than a dozen varieties. A few doors down resides Coronado Café, a cozy bungalow where Southwestern pork tacos with salsa verde are right at home alongside Maryland crab cakes with lime-cilantro rémoulade (the café’s owners are from Baltimore).

Tuck Shop, a 1950s musician’s union hall-turned-home-turned-restaurant, specializes in modern comfort food. Dishes like tomato-sauced lamb meatballs may resemble their retro counterparts on the outside, but they get a healthier 21st-century upgrade with fresh spaghetti squash, carrots, and zucchini alongside. —Jenn Garbee